My Little Pony: Origins
by Hazzel Nut
Summary: Have you ever wondered how some of the ponies came to be in Ponyville? For this young filly the answer may be more shocking than you would expect. Follow Suzie as she takes a journey to find who she really is- or maybe what she really is. I'm open to criticism, so if you don't like, please criticize away!
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't fair.

None of it was fair.

Why did it have to be my daddy?! Suzie thought to herself as tears streamed out of her ocean blue eyes onto clenched fists. She sat on a bench in the hospital waiting room.

"I'm so sorry, Suzie," said the concerned, blonde haired nurse, standing over the crying child. "I know how hard this must be for you..." The woman reached out a comforting hand to the young girls shoulder but Suzie shrugged her off and jumped to her feet.  
"NO YOU DON'T!" She bawled. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LOOSE THE ONLY PERSON WHO HAS EVER CARED FOR YOU!" Suzie was suddenly furious. She glared up at the nurse, challenging her. Then something unexpected happened- the nurse bent down and wrapped her arms around the girl. Suzie gasped in surprize and stiffened her muscles. After a moment she relaxed, letting the woman's warm embrace wash away all her anger and fear. Once Suzie had calmed down, and her tears had turned to sniffles, the woman let go and stood back up.

Just then, an elderly woman entered the hospital. Her gray hair was pulled away from her face in a tight bun and she wore a long, dark dress. She gazed at the pair with stern eyes as she strode over to them. "Suzanne, I am your Great Aunt Beatrice. I trust you remember me from our previous encounter?"  
_unfortunately,_ thought Suzie as she nodded her head at her aunt. The woman was a complete killjoy.

* * *

A few years back, Suzie had taken a visit to Aunt Beatrice's house with her father. The house was actually more of a mansion, and was filled to the brim with old people niknaks- or "pretties" as Aunt Beatrice liked to call them- and dusty books. When Suzie had gotten bored with the visit, she picked up a decorative egg and started tossing it in the air. The older woman had nearly died of a heart attack when she saw this and gave the young girl the scolding off a lifetime. Blah, blah. Personal property this, respect your elders that. Blah, blah, blah.

After a couple of minutes of lecture, Suzie's father interrupted, "Suzie-loo," he said using his current pet name for her, "why don't you go outside and play, while the grown-ups talk?"

"Alright, Dad," Suzie replied in her tomboy voice.

An hour later Suzie had come back in, grinning from ear to ear. She was covered from head to toe in mud and had tracked a bit of it into the house.  
"YOUNG LADY!" Shrieked a disgruntled Aunt Beatrice.

"Well, would you look at the time!" Said Suzie's dad after a beat. "It's been nice talking to you Aunt Beatrice, but we really should get going." He quickly turned his daughter around and pushed her out the front door, pulling a twig out of her hair as he went. "Goodbye!" He yelled, closing the door before the older woman could spout off on another lecturer.

* * *

"Suzanne," Beatrice was talking again, "Since your father has passed, and I am your next closest relative, I have graciously allowed you to come live with me..." She continued talking but Suzie had stopped listening after she heard "live with me". There was no way she was going to move in with that prissy old hag.

Suzie turned on her ankles and rushed for the door. Beatrice grabbed her by the arm, but Suzie twisted out of her grasp and kept running. Both the nurse and her aunt took chase but they were no match for the young girl's speed. She ran all the way to her house, three blocks away.

Once inside, Suzie grabbed her magenta colored backpack and filled it with food, a water bottle, a sleeping bag, and some money. She picked up her purple helmet of the kitchen counter and placed it overtop of her short brown hair, a curl stuck out from the front. Suzie then dashed back outside and climbed onto her scooter, riding it to the forest at the edge of town.

* * *

Suzie's mom had died during childbirth, leaving, only her dad to raise her. Maybe that was why she was such a tomboy. He had struggled at times to make ends meet, but he made sure to always come through for his little Suzie-loo For her fifth birthday, he had gotten her a blue and red scooter, which quickly became her favorite toy. He used to joke with her about how she and the scooter were practically conjoined at the hip, and that's when her nickname changed from Suzie-loo to Scootaloo.  
Sometime after that he had been diagnosed with cancer. He tried to keep it from his beloved daughter for as long as he could, but he knew he wouldn't be around for longer. He had arranged for her to be taken in by her Aunt Beatrice; he knew she wouldn't like it, but it would be good for her to have a female role model in her life- and it was still better than foster care, right?

He had told Suzie about the cancer while they were on a camping trip. It was one of the worst things he had ever had to do. He dreaded telling her he was dying, even more than he dreaded dying. When he finally told her, her eyes watered up and she gave him a hug, saying that he forgot the hospital bill on the counter.  
He was stunned for a moment then hugged her all the tighter. My smart little Scootaloo, she already knew.

* * *

When Suzie reached the forest, she paused to catch her breath and collect her thoughts. She closed her eyes to think about everything that happened in the past day. Even though she knew it was coming, her dad's death had turned her world upside down.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed against her closed eyes, and when she opened them again everything seemed slightly different. There was still a forest in front of her but it wasn't the same one. She looked down at her hands resting on the scooter's handlebars, and shrieked. In place of her hands were orange hoofs. On two legs, then four, then two again, Suzie stumbled over to a small puddle. What she saw took her breath away. She was an orange pony with magenta hair and purple eyes. Oh, and she had wings.


	2. Chapter 2

Everypony was cowering in their houses as Zecora walked through the empty streets of Ponyville. She needed a special type of purple flower but as usual all of the shops were closed. The town seemed to be abandoned. Zecora sighed and started to walk back home, wondering why she even bothered anymore.

As she made her way through the Everfree forest, she saw something she had never noticed on her previous journeys. In a grove off to her left was small tree, covered in purple leaves. It wasn't what she was looking for but perhaps a purple leave would be just as good as a purple flower. Using her mouth She plucked a few leaves off of the tree and placed them in her striped saddle bag.

Back at her tribal hut, Zecora placed the leaves into a bowl and ground them up into a mush. Then, adding a dash of spice weed, she dumped the contents of the bowl into her already filled caldron. She mixed the potion until the orange liquid began to bubble and turn green. She then ladled a portion of the mixture into a hoof sized beaker and pushed a stopper down its neck.

The next day, Zecora stood at the edge of the Everfree, sprinkling the contents of the beaker onto the ground. When she finished her task she watched and waited for a moment. The potion should have caused the green grass to turn a shade of purple and release a timber-wolf-repelling perfume into the air, but nothing seemed to be happening.

Suddenly Zecora flinched back and covered her eyes with a foreleg as a blinding light flashed across her line of sight.

When the light had faded, she opened her eyes again and peered down at the grass. Still green. 'It seems purple leaves hold no power, and I must continue my search for the purple flower.' Zecora thought to herself. She turned around and headed back into the forest, all the while looking down to make certain the grass was not changing.

Meanwhile...

Scootaloo stood in shock as she gazed at her reflection in the small pool. She blinked her eyes a few times and sat back on her haunches to think. This was by far the strangest dream she had ever had.

"But it's not a dream, is it?" Scootaloo quietly whispered to herself. "Everything looks so real. And I can actually feel wind blowing through my hair... Well, on the plus side, being a colorful flying pony beats living with Aunt Beatrice."

She stood back up and- on four legs this time- stumbled back over to her scooter. Scootaloo wasn't positive but the scooter seemed to be smaller- more in proportion with her pony self than with her human self. She glanced behind her to see that her backpack had also changed with her, it was now a pair of magenta saddlebags.

Scootaloo tried to use her new hoofs to remove the bags, but she couldn't quite figure out the right way to bend her arm in order to reach them. Finally she gave up and decided to use her mouth instead. This worked out much easier.

The newly turned filly, emptied the contents of her bags onto the ground and began to look over everything. It was to bizarre, every single thing had changed in someway or another. In the one bag was a pony-sized sleeping bag. In the other her dollars had tuned to small gold coins, her bag of beef jerky had tuned into a bag of hay, and her water bottle had a flip off lid instead of one that screwed off. The only thing that had not been ponyfied was a picture she had grabbed on the way out of her house, of her dad and she.

A single tear fell onto the glass frame, as Scootaloo gazed down at the picture. She remembered the day it had been taken. Her dad was teaching her how to fish at a lake next to their campsite. She liked digging through the dirt to find worms and putting them on the hook, but she had trouble casting. The hook kept on getting caught in the trees behind her and when she went to untangle it she somehow ended up covered in tree sap. When she did finally get the bait in the water, a few minutes later she hooked a foot long catfish. In the photo her father was smiling down at her with his arm on her shoulder and she was grinning from ear to ear, covered in tree sap and holding up her first fish.

Scootaloo hugged the picture to her chest then reloaded her saddle bags and placed them on her back.

Looking up at the sky, Scootaloo realized it would soon be dark. She began searching for a place to curl up for the night. There were small buildings in the distance but it would probably be a bad idea to go wondering around an unfamiliar town at night. A tree might work though. She was a great climber and the heights of a tree always brought her comfort.

Scootaloo jumped on her scooter and made her way over to a tree at the edge of the forest. Surprisingly enough riding the scooter was actually easier for her than trying to walk with four legs. Fairly soon Scootaloo realized that having four legs also made it difficult to climb- actually more like impossible. Flying up the tree was not an option either, her wings were pretty much useless. After a couple minuets of trying to get them to unfold, all she managed was to wiggle a few feathers. "What good are wings if they don't even work?" Scootaloo mumbled under her breath.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Scootaloo pulled out her sleeping bag and curled up inside it at the base of the tree. She decided that tomorrow she would try to figure everything out. Despite the uncomfortableness of a new body and the hard ground, Scootaloo quickly fell into a deep sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Scootaloo awoke with a start. It was still dark and her heart was pounding wildly in her chest. 'What was that noise?'

"AHH-WOOOOOOO!"

Scootaloo jumped to her hoofs, the fur on her back standing on end. As she peered into the dark forest she saw two glowing green eyes looking back at her.

Rainbow Dash tossed around on her bed accidentally knocking the covers onto the soft floor. She had woken up in the night and was having trouble falling back asleep- which was surprising, considering her bed was made of cloud.

'Maybe a midnight flight will calm my mind,' she thought. Not being able to sleep was a very rare occurrence for Rainbow Dash, but the idea of flying after dark had a certain appeal to it.

As the light blue pegasus swooped through the sky, she could feel the chilly night air sting against her cheeks and whip through her mane. As Dash began to pick up speed she stretched out a leg, creating a cone of air resistance around her body. She would get it this time for sure. The the cone began to contract and press against Rainbow Dash, when she suddenly skidded to a stop in mid-flight. Time seemed to pause for an instant before Rainbow's momentum caused her to slingshot in the opposite direction towards the ground.

A scream escaped her lips as she flew backwards through the air. "Ahhhhhhh..."

"...hhhhh!" Scootaloo shrieked as the front wheel of her scooter hit against a rock and launched her through the air. She landed on her back a few feet away from her ride, on a dirt path leading from the Everfree into Ponyville.

The young pegasus was paralyzed with fear as a large wolf-like creature quickly descended upon her. It was completely made up of sticks and logs and two glowing green eyes underneath leafy eyebrows. As it loomed over top of Scootaloo it's rancid breath nearly caused her to dry heave. A single drop of pale yellow tree sap fell from the beasts mouth onto Scootaloo's mane. She whimpered as the timberwolf leaned forward, opened wide it's muzzle, and without warning flew off her and shattered into twigs next to an unsteady rainbow maned pegasus.

Scootaloo got to her hooves a hid behind a nearby tree before the new pony could turn around to see her.

"Whoa, did I just take out a timberwolf? Awesome!" The prideful pegasus brushed the front of her leg against her coat then stretched it out in front of herself to admire it. "Ha, I guess I'm so amazing that I end up doing cool things even when I'm falling out of the sky!" Letting out a rather loud yawn she jumped into the air and flew away.

'Whoa, who was that?' Scootaloo wondered as she ran out from behind the tree to watch her rescuer fly away in the moonlight.

There was no way she was going to stay near the forest, so after retrieving her belongings, Scootaloo decided to take off in the direction of the pony who had saved her.

The night was nearing it's close as Scootaloo rode into the small town. She turned down a vacant alleyway and slumped off her scooter behind an empty box. Exhaustion got the best of the filly, as she laid her head on the unrolled sleeping bag and was once again taken by sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Scootaloo awoke in the alley, confused and scared until the previous day's events came crashing back to her. Her eyes began to water as she covered her mouth with her hooves, preventing a sob from escaping into the midmorning air. She lost her father, was turned into a pony, chased by a wolf made of wood, and she had no idea if she was even still on Earth. The young filly blinked the tears from her eyes and set her sight forward.

"There will be no crying today Scootaloo," she whispered to herself. "You did enough of that yesterday. You are not a cry baby, big girls don't cry. You can figure this out." She took a deep breath and stood up.

Leaving her scooter hidden behind the box, Scootaloo slowly walked to the edge of the alley and peered out from around the corner. What she saw took her breath away.

Ponies of every imaginable color were milling around the town. A mint green unicorn was relaxing on a bench. A yellow pegasus with a pink mane was pushing a cloud across the sky as a flying gray mare with blonde hair spun past her. An orange pony in a cowboy hat, who didn't have wings or a horn, was selling some apples to a beige pony with pink and blue hair. There were even a few donkeys, mules and cows scattered about. Most of the buildings were plan looking with thatched roofs, but some of them stood out. One resembled a giant jester hat and another seemed to be made out entirely of gingerbread and frosting.

'Well, this is different,' Scootaloo thought to herself. 'I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.'

Scootaloo ventured out of the alleyway and walked down the street, scanning the town like a wide eyed tourist. As she looked closer she realized that the ponies all had different pictures on their bottoms. Looking back at her own rump, she wondered why she didn't have a symbol. Her stomach began growling in response.

Walking over to a bench Scootaloo sat down and rubbed her belly. 'I would feed you belly, but my beef jerky turned into a bag of hay... And eating hay doesn't sound very good to me.' Her stomach rumbled again.

Frowning, Scootaloo took the hay bag out of her saddle bag and examined it. The bag itself looked very similar to what it had been, red and black with a beige strip in the middle. But the words on it were different:

APPLE FIELD'S

Premium cuts

Original

HAY STRIPS

'How am I supposed to open this without hands?'

Scootaloo held the hay in between her hoofs and- after a moments hesitation- bit down on the part that read "peel here to open." She twisted her head but the bag would not open. She tried chewing of the corner, but the lining was to thick. Flinging the bag around in her mouth was another fail. Finally she tried laying the bag beside her on the bench and and ripping the top off with her hoof, but that only caused the package to fly off the end of the bench.

"Ugg! Why won't you open!" Scootaloo yelled at the bag in impatience.

"Do you need some help?" asked the mint green unicorn sitting on the bench beside Scootaloo's.

Scootaloo nodded as the mare picked up the bag of hay and using her hoofs, ripped off the top and pulled the sides apart, undoing the inner seal.

"This would be sooo much easier if I had hands," she said, hoofing the open bag to Scootaloo.

"Wha...?" Scootaloo stared back in wide eyed shock.

"I know, almost nopony knows what they are. They're kind of like dragon claws, but rounder and not as sharp. There's these mythical creatures called humans that have hands and walk on two legs, and they don't have cutie marks or magic or wings or fur, and they only grow hair on the tops of their heads," She paused to take a breath. "I know, it's weird," she said after seeing Scoot's slack jawed expression. "But I've always found them fascinating, you know what I mean?"

"Uhh..."

"I mean wouldn't it be so awesome if we could be humans!? Hay, I would even settle for just having humans living in Equestria, you know?"

"Uhhmmm..." Scootaloo's stomach began growling again.

"Oh, here I am rambling on about mythical creatures, and your sitting there starving. Here, I'll get out of your mane and let you eat. My name is Lyra, by the way."

"Uhh, I'm Su- er... Uh, Scootaloo."

"Well it was nice meeting you, Scootaloo," Lyra said as she walked away.

"You too." Scootaloo replied, still slightly confused over what had just happened.

'Well that was weird. And yet strangely informative.' Scootaloo thought.

Turning her attention back to her snack, Scootaloo tentatively stuck her muzzle into the bag and pulled out a piece of hay. She chewed slowly and then swallowed. It was a bit strange eating with a larger mouth, but the hay was surprisingly good. It tasted like a weird mixture of french fries and lettuce, and soon the bag was halfway gone.

"It's over, I've caught you." Said a white stallion with a blue mane, walking up to Scootaloo's bench.

"Who me?" She questioned, gesturing to herself.

"It couldn't be more clear that you don't belong here," the stallion said.

'They know I'm actually a human!' Scootaloo thought to herself. 'That crazy pony, Lyra, must have found out and told on me! I wonder what they're going to do to me. I hope there won't be any experiments.'

Scootaloo looked up at the stallion with large, sad eyes.

"Next time you play hooky, you might not want to hangout in the middle of town" he said.

"Oh, heehee"


	5. Chapter 5

"Daddy, can you tell me another story about Mommy?" Suzie snuggled closer to her father as he poked at the the campfire with a stick.

"I would think that by now you would have all these stories memorized, Suzie-loo," he said.

"I know, but I like hearing you tell them."

He affectionately tousled his daughter's hair. "Ok, Squirt. Your mother..." He paused and looked up to the stars. "Your mother was an angel from Heaven."

"Was she really, Daddy?!" Suzie had heard this story a hundred times before but it was more fun to pretend it was still the first time.

"Oh, yes!" Her father continued. "Before we met, your mother would go on amazing adventures and protect the world from evil creatures."

"What kind of evil creatures?" Suzie asked excitedly.

"Every kind you could think of. Giant talking dogs, that kidnapped little kids; half snake, half bird creatures with the ability to turn you to stone; lions with scorpion tails. You name it, she fraught it."

"Even dragons!?"

"Definitely," he said. "But one day, when Mommy was going on an adventure..."

"She was attacked by an evil witch!" Suzie exclaimed.

"Yes. The evil witch used it's magic to turn her human and trap her on Earth."

"And then she met you and had me!" Suzie trilled happily. Then in a more somber tone she asked, "Daddy, why did Mommy have to leave?"

"Because it was her time, Dearest," He said, hugging her close. "The other angels needed her up in Heaven to help them fight evil."

Suzie looked up at her father. "Why didn't she take us with her?"

"I don't know, Suzie. _Suzie_..." Suddenly her father's voice began shifting to a higher, more feminine sound. "_Suzie-loo... Scoota..._"

"Huh, wha...?"

"Scootaloo! Were you sleeping?!" Asked Miss Cheerilee.

"Uhh... no," said the young filly, looking up from the puddle of drool on her desk.

"Then can you please repeat back to me what I just said?"

"Sure, you said 'Scootaloo, were you sleeping?'" Muffled laughter came from the class.

Cheerilee gave the orange pegasus a disapproving glare. "Very funny, Scootaloo. See me after class. Now as I was saying; every year we have the Summer Sun Celebration in order to commemorate the day Princess Celestia..."

Scootaloo sighed in frustration as she rested her chin on a hoof. It wasn't her fault that school in Equestria was just as boring as school on Earth.

Sure, for the first couple of weeks the newness of this strange world had been both refreshing and exciting. But now... After living in Ponyville for nearly two months, things were settling down and Scootaloo was starting to feel the onset of depression.

_RINGGG!_

"Sounds like our time is up. Don't forget to stay up tonight so you can see the princess raise the sun," Cheerilee called out to her departing students.

Scootaloo walked up to Miss Cheerilee's desk with her head lowered.

"Scootaloo, is something wrong?"

"..."

"You know you can tell me anything, right?"

_Now's your chance, Scootaloo. You should tell her what happened to you, it's not healthy holding all that inside._

Scootaloo sighed. "Well, to be honest... I'm actually a creature form a different universe, and I was turned into a pony and teleported here after both my parents died; and now I live alone in a junky old tree-shack that I found in the middle of Sweet Apple Acres."

"I'm serious, Scootaloo," said a frustrated Cheerilee. "Your penmanship leaves a lot to be desired, your school work is getting worse, and I've caught you sleeping in class three times this week! Have you even made any friends since you've moved here?" Miss Cheerilee asked in a soft voice.

"Yes!" Said Scootaloo defensively. "Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are my friends."

"What you have with Rainbow Dash is closer to hero worship and Pinkie Pie is friends everypony in town. What I mean is that you need some friends your own age." Miss Cheerilee sighed as Scootaloo looked down at her hoofs. "I'm going to write a note to your parents about your grades. I want you to take it home and have them sign it."

"But-"

"No buts! And if your grades don't improve soon I'm going to request a parent-teacher conference." Cheerilee finished the note and hoofed it to her upset student. "Go to the Celebration, have fun, and make some friends. Maybe you can find somepony to help you with your school work."

Scootaloo hopped on her scooter and headed into town to watch Rainbow Dash practice like she did everyday after school. Only today was a bit different.

"Yeah, yeah, that'll be a snap. I'll do it in a jiffy. Just as soon as I'm done practicing." Rainbow Dash said from the cloud she was resting on.

Scootaloo jumped off her scooter and perched herself on a nearby fence. Rainbow Dash was talking to a pony who Scootaloo had never seen before. She was a purple unicorn with a comically ugly manestyle.

_Whoa, I didn't know there were dragons in this world,_ Scootaloo thought to herself after nearly falling over when she noticed the small purple and green dragon.

Scootaloo focused her attention back on Rainbow Dash just in time to see her clear the sky.

"Loop the loop around, and wham! What'd I say? Ten. Seconds. Flat. I'd never leave Ponyville hanging."

"YA! GO RAINBOW DASH!" Shouted Scootaloo. Her shoulders drooped a little when she realized Rainbow had not heard her.

"You're a laugh, Twilight Sparkle. I can't wait to hang out some more." Said Scootaloo's hero before zooming away.

After that Scootaloo decided to practice some tricks on her scooter. Even though she was getting pretty good at her stunts, and had already figured out how to use her wings to propel her scooter to faster speeds, Scootaloo still had a long ways to go if she ever wanted to be as awesome as Rainbow Dash.

"Hi there Scootaloo!" Said Pinkie Pie, materializing out of nowhere.

"AHH!" Scootaloo jerked the scooter sideways and skidded to a stop to avoid hitting the crazy mare.

"Whoa, that looked like fun! Do you know what else would be fun? A PARTY! This morning I saw a pony whom I've never seen before and if I've never saw her before that means she's new, 'cause I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville! And if she's new, that means she hasn't met anyone yet, and if she hasn't met anyone yet, she must not have any friends, and if she doesn't have any friends then she must be lonely, and that makes me so sad, then, just now, I had an idea, I must throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in Ponyville! See? And then she will have lots and lots of friends!"

"What?"

"Silly filly, weren't you listening to what I was saying? Your invited to the surprise party I'm throwing at the library!" Said Pinkie

"Oh, when is it?"

"Right now!"

"Surprise!" Shouted Pinkie Pie along with several other ponies from town.

_What... How did I get here?_ Scootaloo asked herself as she looked around the library.

Scootaloo walked around the library, playing the occasional party game; but when she saw the snack table, she spent the rest of the night eating. Once, when she had shoveled too much food into her small mouth, a cross eyed mare asked if she was half squirrel.

Usually the only food Scootaloo ever ate was the plainest of the plain. She had a job delivering the Sunday paper, but was saving her money in hopes of someday being able to fix up the pile of junk she lived in now. Or to buy an actual house when she got older. At the moment, because school was free and she didn't need clothes- which took some getting used to- her only expenses were food and water.

Soon the party ended and Scootaloo found herself at Town Hall.

She was sitting on the floor, looking at a table of food, trying to decide if she wanted to eat any more, when a unicorn filly trotted up to her.

"Hi! I'm Sweetie Belle," she said in a squeaky voice. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to hang out at Pinkie Pie's party, since you don't have your cutie mark either, but you seemed kinda... busy."

Miss Cheerilee's words rang through Scootaloo's head. _Go to the Celebration, have fun, and make some friends. Maybe you can find somepony to help you with your school work._

Scootaloo smiled and said, "The names Scootaloo. I'd like to hang out, but do you think you could do me a favor first?"

"Sure, what is it?" Asked Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo pulled out her note. "Can you sign this for me?"

"I don't know..." She said, reading over the note. "It doesn't seem right."

"Please, my parents would kill me if they found out about this!" Scootaloo gave the white filly her best pleading look.

"Oh, alright. What are your parents names?"

"Uh... Just write 'Scootaloo's mom' and 'Scootaloo's dad'... What?"

"Oh, nothing," said Sweetie Belle as she scribbled on the paper.

"Shhh, it's starting," whispered a nearby filly with a pink bow in her red mane.

"And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land," began the mayor. "The bringer of harmony to all of Equestria... Princess Celestia!"

At this the balcony curtain opened to reveal Princess Celestia. Only instead of the princess coming forth a dark blue mist seeped out from behind the curtains and consolidated into a large black alicorn with a flowing mane of deep blue starlight.

"AHH!"screamed the three fillies, now huddling together.

"Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little sun-loving faces." The words flowed out of her mouth with a bite.

"What did you do with our Princess?!" Screamed Rainbow Dash. She tried to fly at the mysterious mare but was held back by another pony.

"Get her Rainbow Dash," whispered Scootaloo under her breath.

"Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?" Asked the dark alicorn. "Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"

"I did." Twilight Sparkle boldly proclaimed. "And I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon – Nightmare Moon!"

Scootaloo heard the two fillies beside her gasp.

"Well well well, somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here. Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!"

Lightning flashed down from the ceiling as Nightmare Moon cackled. The royal guards jumped into the air and tried to seize the dark princess, but were stopped when she dissolved into a mist and shot out the door into the forever night sky.


End file.
